Caption reads: Two of the hosts for 'Mutual Radio Theater,'Vincent Price (left) and Lorne Greene (right), take a break in the Paramount Studios with executive producer Elliott Lewis (seated).

Caption reads: Leonard Nimoy, host of the 'Mutual Radio Theater' Friday-Adventure episodes, during a recording session at the Paramount Studios in Hollywood.

Mutual Radio Theater spot ad from March 3rd 1980

12-inch Transcription disc for Mutual Radio Theater--a Western from May 12th 1980

Mutual Radio Theater disc cover from 1980

Background

By many accounts--ours among them--the Golden Age of Radio era ended around 1962, a period spanning thirty-six years. Most of Radio's most productive innovators, writers, performers and production personnel ultimately found their way to Television and Film; among them, Norman Corwin, Arch Oboler, Himan Brown, Fletcher Markle, Elliott Lewis, and scores of Radio's music directors and composers.

The period between 1962 and 1979 found Radio moving to 'all news, all the time' formats or 'talk radio' and 'disc jockey' formats in an effort to remain relevant and commercially viable. But as North American audiences became flooded with all manner of Television content--local, regional and national--many Television critics of the era began commenting on the growing dearth of quality, compelling dramatic productions over Television. That realization was not lost on America's Golden Age Radio veterans.

The term "Theater of the Mind" began appearing across North America with the very inception of popular broadcast Radio. Previously applied to only Print fiction, Radio's expanding panorama of drama, comedy, and studio music captured the Theater of the Mind imagination of Radio audiences throughout the world. Compared to traditional Stage performances and early Film, Radio brought an entirely new visceral experience to its audiences; more so, timed as it was in the wake of the Roaring '20s and the Great Depression era. Escapist, Theater of the Mind Radio brought temporary comfort, optimism and relief to growing millions of Radio listeners throughout the Great Depression and World War II years.

Indeed, during the height of Television's own Golden Age, comedian and musician Steve Allen observed that:

“Radio is the theater of the mind; television is the theater of the mindless”

Little that Television has produced during the ensuing sixty years refutes Steve Allen's pointed observation. So it was, that with America's growing nostalgia for compelling, thoughtful Theater of the Mind drama, a cadre of Golden Age Radio's best and brightest began pitching the notion of a Radio Drama Revival of sorts.

Legendary Radio director, writer, producer and performer Himan Brown repeatedly observed that, “I have never stopped believing that the spoken word and the imagination of the listener are infinitely stronger and more dramatic than anything television can offer.” And indeed it was Himan Brown that brought CBS Radio Mystery Theatre (CBSRMT) to 1970s airwaves in 1974. Airing initially between 1974 and 1982, Radio Mystery Theatre revived Theater of the Mind for millions of late evening listeners, offering a too-long-awaited return to compelling, quality Radio Drama. CBSRMT proved so successful to late evening Radio audiences that Himan Brown created Radio Adventure Theater for General Mills in 1977, targeted to a younger weekend morning audience for two years.

Elliott Lewis pitches a multi-genre Radio Drama series

Himan Brown's success in reviving Radio Drama prompted then Television writer-director-producer Elliott Lewis to team up with the equally successful producer-director Fletch Markle to pitch an even more unique drama revival concept: alternating drama revival genres, five nights a week. They pitched the concept to Ingrid Carlson, the Chicago-based supervisor of Sears' TV commercials of the era. It was reportedly Ms. Carlson's extraordinary enthusiasm for the project that persuaded Sears V. P. John Beebe to green-light the production.

There was clearly no lack of enthusiasm for the project throughout the West Coast's Golden Age Radio veterans as well. Their East Coast brethren were enjoying regular $80 hourly scale performing in Himan Brown's own CBSRMT productions--and a reported $350 per script for its writers. A West Coast contribution to Radio Drama Revival might well help to increase its further demand--or at least that was the hope and belief of Sears and the Lewis-Markle team. Indeed, the concept was persuasive enough to Sears that they underwrote 130 episodes to the tune of $1.2 Million--a $4 Million budget in today's dollars. But in the words of Elliott Lewis, "Actors love it. An actor can come in and do a part in a radio show that has nothing to do with what he looks like. They're delighted to do this. They get good parts, good material, and the chance to start at the beginning and work through to the end of the story."

The series offered five different drama genres, Monday thru Friday, nightly:

Lorne Greene hosted Westerns on Mondays

Andy Griffith hosted Comedies on Tuesdays

Vincent Price hosted Mystery and Suspense on Wednesdays

Cicely Tyson hosted 'Love and Hate' dramas on Thursdays

Richard Widmark hosted Adventure dramas on Fridays

Produced and recorded at Paramount Studios' Studio 'A,' the team of Lewis and Markle had a reported 40 of the contracted 130 episodes (eight weeks of programming) already 'in the can' when Sears Radio Theatre premiered on February 5th 1979.

Broadcast over CBS, Sears Radio Theatre and CBS Mystery Theatre offered two, usually back-to-back, weeknight hours of revival drama to its network audiences from February 5th 1979 to February 28th 1980; 130 episodes in Sears Radio Theatre's first-run season and another 136 episodes in repeats. Both CBS offerings of the era were also complimented with PBS' own Masterpiece Theatre and EarPlay radio drama revivals of the era.

Sears ultimately pulled back on its sponsorship of Sears Radio Theatre citing its inability to fill all twelve of its nightly Network and Local commercial spots with exclusively Sears merchandise and services. CBS also indicated that it "had its hands full" filling its own CBS Mystery Theater commercial spots with paying sponsors.

The Mutual Broadcasting System saves Sears Radio Theatre

The Mutual Broadcasting System, by then an exclusively Radio and Satellite broadcaster with a reported 950 affiliates, agreed to take over the reins of Sears Radio Theatre, renaming it Mutual Radio Theater.

From the February 29th 1980 edition of the Santa Ana Orange County Register:

Mutual Radio Theater begins at 8:06 Monday on KNX 1070 AM. The Sears Radio Theater is churning out the new shows in the same format  Monday, westerns; Tuesday, comedy; Wednesday, mystery; Thursday, love; Friday, adventures.
The hosts include Lome Greene, Andy Griffith, Vincent Price, Cicely Tyson and Leonard Nimoy. For the first time, said Mutual vice president of programming Terry Hourigan, the series will be broadcast in stereo.
The program started in February, 1979. Mutual acquired the program last December for presentation this season. Sears is retaining partial sponsorship of the series.
Storylines on new programs will begin next week . . .

The structure of a typical Mutual Radio Theater broadcast followed a--by then--fairly rigid formula as follows:

00:00 - 02:00

Program opening/credits/billboards

00:02 - 03:00

Network Commercial

03:00 - 04:00

Local Commercial

04:00 - 13:00

Act I (9:00 minutes)

13:00 - 14:00

Network Commercial

14:00 - 15:00

Local Commercial

15:00 - 24:00

Act II (9:00 minutes)

24:00 - 25:00

Network Commercial

25:00 - 26:10

Local Commerical/Station ID

26:10 - 35:10

Act III (9:00 minutes)

35:10 - 36:10

Network Commercial

36:10 - 37:10

Local Commercial

37:10 - 45:10

Act IV (8:00 minutes)

45:10 - 46:10

Network Commercial

46:10 - 47:10

Local Commercial

47:10 - 49:10

Epilogue (2:00 minutes)

49:10 - 50:10

Network Commercial

50:10 - 51:10

Local Commercial

51:10 - 52:40

Program close/billboards/credits

52:40

Station Commercial/ID [and/or News]

This yielded an approximate 37-minute dramatic production during Mutual Radio Theater's alloted 53-minute timeslots. Depending on the outlet, the remainder of the 60-minute block was typically devoted to local and national news--Mutual being one of the 'all news, all the time' radio networks of the era. Doing the math, each of Mutual Radio Theater's broadcasts comprised 37 minutes of drama production and 16 minutes of commercials and other statutory network business. Compare and contrast this with the approximate 45 to 50 minutes of production content and 10 to 15 minutes of commercials during most of the one-hour drama productions from the Golden Age of Radio.

Building on the relative success of the preceding Sears Radio Theatre series, Mutual Radio Theater maintained the same genre-themed formats. The significant difference in the two productions was the departure of Richard Widmark as host of the Adventure [Friday] Night episodes in favor of Leonard Nimoy as host. Another important difference--even thirty years later--in the two productions were that Mutual provided all of Mutual Radio Theater's recorded broadcasts in stereo, the better to attract potential Frequency Modulation (FM) outlets of the era. Nelson Riddle, for his part, composed a different theme for Mutual Radio Theater.

Mutual Radio Theater Commercial Schedule matirx for the week of March 10th 1980

Mutual Radio Theater managed to maintain the integrity of its Monday to Friday rotation throughout its first 130-episode season and through all but the last two months of its second season. And if the sheer number of commercial spots caught your eye in the tables above, Mutual cited the fall-off in demand for those twelve, primetime spots as their rationale for eventually officially terminating Mutual Radio Theater on December 19th 1980. A cursory review of the schedule inserts that accompanied each boxed, 12-inch disc shows that almost all of those twelve spots were filled by paying advertisers for the first fifty to sixty broadcasts. By the Summer of 1980, more and more of both the Network and Local spots were filled with Public Service Announcements (P.S.A.s). By the time the second season of Mutual Radio Theater began on September 1st 1980, the overwhelming majority of those twelve spots were predominately PSAs. Sears, for its part, continued to sponsor Mutual Radio Theater, albeit in gradually withering spots, right to the end.

Indeed, given the fact that Sears continued to sponsor Mutual Radio Theater right to the end, one could just as easily refer to Mutual Radio Theater as Sears Radio Theatre Lite. Not a bad deal for Sears, in retrospect. Sears had picked up the entire tab for Sears Radio Theatre--to the tune of $1.2 Million for it's 130-episode commitment. The 'Repeats' Season of Sears Radio Theatre aired another 136 episodes under, we'd imagine, some sort of residual compensation scheme for the producers and performers. But this would almost certainly have been only a fraction of Sears' initial underwriting of $1.2 Million. Thus, with its sponsorship of Mutual Radio Theater--sans the product identification it enjoyed with Sears Radio Theatre--Sears was essentially having its cake and eating it. Mutual Broadcasting was on the hook for the production costs of Mutual Radio Theater and Sears was simply purchasing spot time for its product promotions.

One could just as easily make the argument that Sears never really lost any of its product identification throughout the Mutual Radio Theater run. The content, format, participants and quality remained essentially the same. Mutual Radio Theater premiered within a week of the final Sears Radio Theatre repeat installment. And it's a foregone conclusion that the production's most avid fans never really viewed Mutual Radio Theater as anything but an extension of Sears Radio Theatre no matter what it was called; clearly a win-win for Sears no matter how history views it.

Neither, in most instances, did the actual network affiliation of Mutual Radio Theater's broadcast outlets follow the traditional pattern of the Golden Age Radio era. In Southern California, for example, KNX Radio 1070--a CBS owned and operated (O&O) outlet--aired Sears Radio Theatre throughout the same period it aired Himan Brown's long-running drama-revival series, CBS Radio Mystery Theatre (CBSRMT). When Sears Radio Theatre transitioned to Mutual Radio Theater, CBS' KNX Radio 1070 continued airing both Mutual Radio Theater and CBS Radio Mystery Theatre in the same fashion as it had previously broadcast them.

Print promotion for Mutual Radio Theater was spotty at best; really no better than Sears Radio Theatre that preceded it--though Sears at least promoted the series in its own newspaper ads of the era. But Mutual stated that as many as 375 Mutual outlets were airing Mutual Radio Theater, so it clearly continued to command a nationwide audience--if Mutual's figures were to believed.

The Billboard announcement of December 13th 1980 cites Mutual's decision to drop Mutual Radio Theater

RadioGOLDINdex, Hickerson Guide.

Notes on Provenances:

The most helpful provenances were newspaper listings.

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[Date, title, and episode column annotations in red refer to either details we have yet to fully provenance or other unverifiable information as of this writing. Red highlights in the text of the 'Notes' columns refer to information upon which we relied in citing dates, date or time changes, or titles.]

The Mutual Radio Theater Radio Program Log [MBS]

Date

Episode

Title

Avail.

Notes

80-02-29

--

--

80-02-29 The Register
Mutual Radio Theater begins at 8:06 Monday on KNX 1070 AM. The Sears Radio Theater is churning out the new shows in the same format--Monday, western; Tuesday, comedy; Wednesday, mystery; Thursday, love; Friday, adventures. The hosts include Lorne Greene, Andy Griffith, Vincent Price, Cicely Tyson, and Leonard Nimoy. For the first time, said Mutual vice president of programming Terry Hourigan, the series will be broadcast in stereo. The program started in February, 1979. Mutual acquired the program last December for presentation this season. Sears is retaining partial sponsorship of the series. Storylines on new programs will begin next week.

80-03-06 The Register
Here are storylines for Radio Theater,8:06 p.m. on KNX 1070:
Tonight, "Love Conquers All." Joan McCall and Ivor Berry, Marie Page and Lynn Hubbard are 15-year-old school girls with a crush on their
teacher . . .

80-03-07

5

The Ship

Y

80-03-06 The Register
Here are storylines for Radio Theater,8:06 p.m. on KNX 1070:Friday, "The Ship," Brock Peters and John Dehner. The largest
oil tanker ever built is hijacked .. .
Monday, "The Mutiny Against George Washington," Fletcher Markle and Tommy Cook . . .

80-03-10

6

The Mutiny Against George Washington

Y

80-03-06 The Register
Here are storylines for Radio Theater,8:06 p.m. on KNX 1070:Monday, "The Mutiny Against George Washington," Fletcher Markle and Tommy Cook . . .

80-03-11

7

Let's Play House

Y

80-03-06 The Register
Here are storylines for Radio Theater,8:06 p.m. on KNX 1070:Tuesday, "Let's Play House," Linda Henning, Shepard Menken and Frank Nelson. Kim and Will Shane have been living in the back of a van until they find land where they can build their dream house . . .

80-04-17 The RegisterToni Tennille in Western RoleBy GARY LYCAN
Singer Toni Tennille stars in a western episode of Mutual Radio Theater called "The Legend of Gibson Holler" at 8:06 p.m. Monday on KNX 1070 AM. Tennille plays a young Tennessee girl who is torn between her brother and lover when one goes to fight for the South and the other for the North. In the drama, to be broadcast on some 375 stations across the country, she sings a traditional folk song, "He's Gone Away," that provices a musical thread throughout the broadcast. Tennille is best known as the singer who has shared many hit recordings with husband, "Captain" Daryl Dragon. She will also host her own TV talk show on KNBC in the fall. Elliott Lewis and Fletcher Markle direct and produce Mutual Radio Theater. Shirley Gordon wrote Monday's episode.

80-05-29 The Register
Radio Theater, 8:06 p.m. Monday-Friday, KNX 1070 AM.Monday. "The Mutiny Against George Washington," western. Based on a true incident before Washington became president. Fletcher Markle and Tommy Cook.

80-07-24 The Register
Radio News
On FridayDue to limited space, the column
Radio World will not appear today. It is scheduled to appear in Friday editions of The Register, along with Theater of the Mind.

80-09-11 The Register
Due to a baseball game tonight, there have been changes in the drama lineup. At presstime, here is the KNX 1070 lineup:
Radio Theater:
Friday, 8:06 p.m., "Shrimpboats," adventure, with George Kennedy.

80-09-14

She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not

80-09-11 The Register
Due to a baseball game tonight, there have been changes in the drama lineup. At presstime, here is the KNX 1070 lineup:
Radio Theater:
Sunday, 8:06 p.m., "She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not," Shepard Menken

80-09-15

141

80-09-16

142

Title Unknown

80-09-17

143

Title Unknown

80-09-18

144

Vivien

80-09-18 The Register
Mutual Radio Theater, 8:06 p.m. Mon-Fri, KNX 1070. Both Radio Theater and Mystery Theater are subject to pre-emption due to sporting events and on late notice, may be broadcast Saturday or Sunday nights.
Today, "Vivien," a love story, with Elliot Reid and Jeff Corey.

80-09-19

145

Where No Soft Winds Blow

80-09-18 The Register
Mutual Radio Theater, 8:06 p.m. Mon-Fri, KNX 1070. Both Radio Theater and Mystery Theater are subject to pre-emption due to sporting events and on late notice, may be broadcast Saturday or Sunday nights.
Friday, "Where No Soft Winds Blow," adventure, Corey Burton, John Larch, Jack Kruschen.

80-09-22

146

After Bull Run

80-09-18 The Register
Mutual Radio Theater, 8:06 p.m. Mon-Fri, KNX 1070. Both Radio Theater and Mystery Theater are subject to pre-emption due to sporting events and on late notice, may be broadcast Saturday or Sunday nights.
Monday, "After Bull Run," western, Jack Bannon and Vic Perrin.

80-09-23

147

Fontaine Harris, Movie Mogul

80-09-18 The Register
Mutual Radio Theater, 8:06 p.m. Mon-Fri, KNX 1070. Both Radio Theater and Mystery Theater are subject to pre-emption due to sporting events and on late notice, may be broadcast Saturday or Sunday nights.
Tuesday, "Fountaine Harris, Movie Mogul," comedy, Jesse White and Sandra Gould.

80-09-24

148

Death Warmed Over

80-09-18 The Register
Mutual Radio Theater, 8:06 p.m. Mon-Fri, KNX 1070. Both Radio Theater and Mystery Theater are subject to pre-emption due to sporting events and on late notice, may be broadcast Saturday or Sunday nights.
Wednesday, "Death Warmed Over," mystery, Mary Jane Croft, Keith Andes and Elliot Reid.

80-12-13 BillboardMutual is pulling the plug on its Mutual Radio Theatre Dec. 19. The five-nights-a-week dramatic series was heard on more than 320 stations. Programming vice president Terry Hourigan says the program is being dropped because of lack of advertising support. Mutual took over the show last March, which had previously been distributed by CBS as the "Sears Radio Theatre."

80-12-16

208

80-12-17

209

80-12-18

210

80-12-18 The Register
The drama lineup on KNX 1070 AM in the week ahead:
FRIDAY: 9:06 p.m., "Stay Out of Dutchman's Woods." Paul Hecht. Newlyweds encounter a beautiful specter while wandering in a dense New England forest.
SUNDAY: 9:06 p.m., "The Threshold," Fred Gwynne. A small Montana town, destroyed by atomic experiments in the 1940s, mysteriously comes
back to life.
WEDNESDAY: 8:06 p.m., "Moonwalk," Arthur Hill and Peggy Hassard. A man and woman, while competing for the purchase of an old mansion, discover much about themselves and each other.

80-12-19

The Treasure of Grand Caicos

80-12-21

80-12-23

211

Moonwalk

[Final broadcast of Mutual Radio Theater]

80-12-18 The Register
The drama lineup on KNX 1070 AM in the week ahead:WEDNESDAY: 8:06 p.m., "Moonwalk," Arthur Hill and Peggy Hassard. A man and woman, while competing for the purchase of an old mansion, discover much about themselves and each other.

Elliott Lewis' comparatively sparse entry from the October 1940 edition of Lew Lauria's Radio Artists Directory

Elliott Lewis c. 1944

Elliott Lewis c. 1948

It's safe to say that Elliott Lewis was the most prolific, versatile Renaissance Man of both Radio and Television throughout the Golden Ages of both media. Quite simply, he did it all--and superlatively. Elliott Lewis first made his mark as an actor, writer, producer and director on radio in the late 1930's. Indeed his first recorded radio appearances were in 1937's The Cinnamon Bear.

During World War II, Lewis was responsible for many of the finest Armed Forces Radio Service productions of the War years, working in conjunction with Gower Gulch fellow enlistee, Howard Duff. Indeed, being the ingenious and resourceful non-Coms that they were, they are reported to have often substituted for each other on air. Apparently each had the other's air voice down so pat that they were indistiguishable from each other when they wanted--or needed--to be. Dedicated fans of AFRS' Mystery Playhouse have been tricked without knowing it, through the personae of Sgt. X, who, in reality was often Elliott Lewis subbing for his buddy, Duff.

Lewis' guest appearances on The Adventures of Sam Spade are some of the more memorable episodes of that series for the magical, on-air interplay between Lewis, Duff, and Lurene Tuttle.

In contrast to his extraordinary radio career, in which he worked either alone or in tandem with his first wife Cathy Lewis, and/or his second wife, Mary Jane Croft, his movie career, like those of most radio actors of the period, wasn't nearly as prolific, with only three films to his credit. His voice was also heard on Gordon Jenkins' classic recording of "Manhattan Tower" on Decca Records in 1945.

During the 1950s, he began to concentrate on writing, producing and directing in earnest. During that period, Lewis produced (1950-1956) and directed (1951-1954) CBS's long running, highly collectible Suspense program. He also produced and directed Broadway Is My Beat from 1949-1954. CBS Radio also tapped him to produce and direct Crime Classics from 1953 to 1954.

After the Golden Age of Radio effectively ended, Lewis moved to Television as a producer of such shows as The Lucille Ball Show (1962) and The Mothers-In-Law (1967), and directed all but one episode of the final season of Petticoat Junction (1963). But it was Radio that remained his first love and he continued to direct the occasional radio play well into the 1970s, culminating with Mutual's critically acclaimed Zero Hour (Hollywood Radio Theatre) in 1973, Sears Radio Theatre in 1979, and Mutual Radio Theatre in 1980 as both director and producer. These Golden Age Radio Revival dramas were some of the finest productions of the 1970s, and despite the dominance of Television, represented an enduring, sophisticated tribute to The Golden Age of Radio that Elliott Lewis had loved so very much.

CBS Radio Publicity once dubbed Elliott Lewis "Mr. Radio" because of his contributions to the medium as a writer, producer, director, and actor. Lewis was involved in more than 1,2o0 network radio programs in those various capacities.

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Fletcher Markle began his career with the Canadian Broadcasting Company (The CBC) in the early 1940s in Vancouver, British Columbia. He started out doing radio dramas with a group whose members included John Drainie, Lister Sinclair, Bernie Braden, and Alan Young on local canadian stations and The CBC network.

During World War II Markle performed in Journey Together (1946). Markle subsequently moved to New York City and though uncredited, wrote for Orson Welles'The Lady from Shanghai. During his time with CBS and NBC in New York, he produced, directed, wrote for, and performed in the CBS Radio drama anthology, Studio One. When Ford Theater moved to CBS from NBC, Markle was selected to helm the Ford program while tapping the same pool of excellent Radio actors he employed in Studio One.

He produced, wrote for and played a cameo role in the movie Jigsaw (1949). Night into Morning (1951) saw him direct Nancy Davis, Ray Milland, and John Hodiak.

Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, he was director, producer and host for a number of television series such as Studio One for television, Front Row Center, Boris Karloff's Thriller, Father of The Bride, and Life with Father. He also directed Telescope for The CBC. In 1963 Markle directed the movie The Incredible Journey (1963) for Walt Disney Studios.

Markle met Academy Award winning actress Mercedes McCambridge while working with her during The Mercury Theatre Summer Program of 1946. Markle produced and directed many of the Summer Theatre programs, and subsequently directed his, then, wife Mercedes McCambridge in both Studio One and Ford Theatre for Radio and Television. The couple were married for 12 years and Markle adopted McCambridge's son, John, with her. The couple divorced in 1962.

Markle continued actively producing, directing and writing for Television both in Canada and the U.S. through the 1960s. Markle retired from Television from the 1970s, on.

Oboler's Bwana Devil (1952) boasted its claim as the first feature length 3-D film

As late as 1962, Arch Oboler and Capitol Records teamed to create a fascinating compilation of Oboler's scarier productions.

5'1" tall Arch Oboler, pound for pound, inch for inch one of Radio history's scariest writers/directors--ever--was born in 1909, in Chicago. He was also, by most accounts, one of Radio's most sensitive, introspective writers, and a giant by virtually any conventional measure of the industry.

ARCH OBOLER, WROTE THRILLERS FOR RADIO IN 1930'S AND 40'S

By WILLIAM G. BLAIR
Published: Sunday, March 22, 1987

Arch Oboler, who enthralled listeners with his tales of suspense and horror in the golden age of radio in the 1930's and 40's, died Thursday of heart failure at the Westlake Community Hospital in Westlake, Calif. He was 79 years old and lived in Malibu.

Although Mr. Oboler was perhaps best known as the writer of a series of nighttime radio dramas that were broadcast under the name ''Lights Out,'' he also wrote for screen and stage.

The ''Lights Out'' programs, delightfully chilling fare to many now over the age of 50, began with these words:

''These stories are definitely not for the timid soul. So we tell you calmly and very sincerely, if you frighten easily, turn off your radio now. Lights out, everybody!'' 'I Wrote About Human Beings'

The rights to rebroadcast and distribute many of the ''Lights Out'' thrillers were acquired from Mr. Oboler late last year by Metacom, a Minneapolis-based concern that specializes in the distribution of old radio shows.

In an interview with The New York Times in October, Mr. Oboler said he had turned down offers to sell his radio stories to television in the 1950's because ''basically, I think TV talks too much and shows too much.''

Mr. Oboler said he believed his thrillers had not lost their ability to terrify because ''I wrote about human beings, not special effects.''

''What we fear most is the monster within - the girl who lets you down, the husband who is unfaithful,'' he said. ''The greatest horrors are within ourselves.''

In movies, he first made a name for himself as the writer of the 1940 screen version of ''Escape,'' the anti-Nazi best-selling novel by Ethel Vance, that starred Norma Shearer and Robert Taylor.

Three-Dimensional Movie

More than a decade later, he wrote, directed and produced the first three-dimensional movie, ''Bwana Devil,'' which had moviegoers in special eyeglasses ducking when African spears and lions appeared to be flying off the screen directly at them.

In the mid-1950's, Mr. Oboler turned to Broadway. He wrote ''Night of the Auk,'' a science-fiction drama set aboard a spaceship. The show, produced by Kermit Bloomgarden and directed by Sidney Lumet, ran for eight performances and was briefly revived in 1963.

From the 1960's on, as head of Oboler Productions, he continued to write for radio, movies and the theater. In 1969, he wrote a book called ''House on Fire'' that a reviewer for The Times described as ''pretty much what Mr. Oboler used to terrify America with.''

He is survived by his wife, the former Eleanor Helfand, and a son, Dr. Steven Oboler of Denver. A private funeral is planned.

Between 1936 and 1944, Arch Oboler either conceived or participated in an ambitious undertaking of both brief and long-running dramatic series':

1936 Lights Out!

1939 Arch Oboler's Plays

1940 Everyman's Theater

1942 Plays for Americans

1942 This Is Our America

1942 To The President

1943 Free World Theatre

1944 Four for The Fifth (with William N. Robson)

Drop Dead!: An Exercise In Horror (1962 Capitol Records LP)

The Devil and Mr. O (a 1970s revival series)

Arch Oboler's Plays was Oboler's breakout dramatic showcase over Radio. Everyman's Theater further established Oboler's versatility and range, while underscoring Oboler's growing appeal to a far wider audience than he'd already established with Lights Out!. Though eight years his senior, the diminutive Oboler, while never as widely popular as Orson Welles, invites comparison to the other great young playwright-actor-director. Their skills were clearly each other's equal, their versatility had already been amply demonstrated by 1940, and their genius was indisputable. It's also clear that both Wyllis Cooper and Norman Corwin served to influence and inform Oboler's growing, wider appeal.The reach and effect of Arch Oboler's writing style, subject matter, and point of view remain significant influences to this day. Indeed a world of imitators, 'hat tippers', homages, and unabashed worshippers of his style have sprung up every year since the mid-1950s. And for good reason. Devising new ways to scare the be-jee-zuzz out of people has become something of a cottage industry at various times during the past 60 years.

Thillers sell when the public is in the mood for them. And when the public is in the mood for them, they tend to be insatiable for them.

Wyllis Cooper and Arch Oboler were arguably the two of the most significant influences in supernatural thrillers over Radio, of the 20th Century. Virtually every modern fiction writer of the past seventy years cites both Cooper and Oboler as influences.

Arch Oboler's fortunes waned with the waning of The Golden Age of Radio. His solo Film projects were, while revolutionary in many respects, not nearly up to the standards of his Radio work. His Five (1951) was a rather overly contrived, over-ripe, and self-important opus about a post-apocalyptic world and its five widely differing survivors. Filmed around his property and home in Malibu Canyon, it's become more of a cult flick than a representative Atomic Age sci-fi drama.

Bwana Devil (1952) was the first feature-length film to be produced in 3-D, yet another of Oboler's signature--albeit eccentric--innovations. Historic for only its innovative technology, the film, while popular as a novelty, was a stinker in every critically measurable way.His Twonky (1953), starring pal, Hans Conreid, was a fascinating concept, somewhat frivolously executed. It featured a television set with a mind of its own, purportedly receiving direction from an alien force in geoconcentric orbit around Earth. This was highly reminiscent of the CBS Radio Workshop program, The Enormous Radio (1956), wherein a similar problem surfaces with a Radio set.

Oboler later released the Capitol LP, Drop Dead!: An Exercise In Horror (1962), reprised many of his Arch Oboler's Plays with the 1971 revival series The Devil and Mr. O, and in 1969, employed his 3-D production skills in another first, Stewardesses, a soft-core porn feature he wrote and directed for 3-D, under the pseudonym, 'Alf Silliman.'

Arch Oboler spent much of the remainder of his life attending to the various elements of his Oboler Productions company and the various writing, Film, Radio and Television projects Oboler managed through it.

From the January 29th 1979 edition of the Santa Ana Register:

Oboler Ponders
Past, FutureNOSTALGIARADIOBy GARY LYCAN

Arch Oboler is one of a kind. He tends to keep a low profile, but he stands out in a crowd. Small in stature, but high on talent, he was honored last Friday by Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters for his contributions to the industry. Oboler turned out hours of superb radio anthologies, most notably the spine-tingling Lights Out series. His sister Dr. Minnie Pearlstein is fond of saying the only thing Oboler didn't write was his own birth certificate. At age six he was writing for the youth page in a big Chicago daily paper. Until they met one day, the editor thought he was at least 17 and was going to offer his a job. But Oboler kept writing, and found his niche in radio. He was a familiar figure in the studio control booth--a floppy hat, polo shirt and unpressed pants. But while his clothes resembled hand-me-downs, his plays didn't. They were classics and extended from Lights Out to Everyman's Theatre. That was years ago, and at 69 today he may have hung up the hat and opted for a jumpsuit, but he is still writing and will be one of the talents contributing to CBS' Sears Radio Theatre debuting on Feb. 5. Joining in the salute to Oboler were players from his stock company  announcer Frank Martin, composer Gordon Jenkins, actors Hans Conreid, Byron Kane, Vic Perrin, Howard Duff, Elliott Lewis, Virginia Grey, Lurene Tuttle, archivist Martin Halperin, broadcaster Frank Bresee and 71-year-old Dr. Pearlstein, who helped raise Oboler as a boy.
"My sister specialized in social diseases," Oboler told PPB. "At her very first lecture on the subject at the University of-Illinois, she got up and said 'Gentlemen' I realize you are not accustomed to being lectured to by a woman, but the dean of the department has asked me particularly to give all of you in the next hour syphilis.' "
Actor Kane got in a zinger of his own, recalling the time he was supposed to say "chemical reaction" in the script and for the East Coast live feed it came out "chemical erection."
Writer-director Oboler disappeared from view in the control booth, Kane recalled. Oboler spoke eloquently about the past. "So many memories come to mind. Charles Laughton doing 'The Flying Yorkshireman" and at the last moment before we were on the air, he told me he couldn't possibly play the role, he didn't feel it, and would I get him a harness and hoist him up in the air."
He recalled the time he visited Marlene Dietrich to talk about her doing one of his plays. "I knocked on the door and that voice said 'come in.' In a little while out came the lady in a diaphanous negligee. I, from the canyons of Chicago, had never seen anything like it in a Sears and Roebuck catalogue.
"She sat down and I began talking to her about the play, very earnestly. Suddenly I felt her Dolly Partons pushing against me. I thought it was accidental. It continued, and I moved down the couch. I was terribly young. The rehearsal suddenly came to an abrupt end and she went out of the room.
"So many, memories, and so many-regrets," sighed Oboler.
One of Oboler's first fantasies was called' 'Futuristic" (1934), and it's apparent he is still a visionary today. "I try to write not about immediacy but about human beings. I like to think of the future. The scientists tell us we have ahead of us 4 billion years. Our total civilization, recorded and unrecorded, is a bit over 10,000 years. Think of that. Four billion years.
"We can make of this world a heaven on earth. Why should we think of ourselves as the ultimate species. What conceit it would be to think of mankind being as it is four billion years from now. And if we aren't the ultimate species, well, the entomologists tell us the butterflies will take over, beautiful winged creatures, at war only with the wind."
That is Arch Oboler. Writer, producer, director. And prophet.